With the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, 11 years behind us, one Arkansas Tech University professor is encouraging everyone not to forget the evils that can bestow the world at any given moment.

J.O. Bailey, assistant professor in Tech’s Department of Emergency Management, said though some of the psychological effects the terrorist attacks left on the nation have all but faded, one of the key things to remember from Sept. 11 is to always be prepared for any disastrous event — whether it be a terrorist attack or a small fire.

“I think a lot of it boils down to how prepared you are at the household level,” he said. “If you’re prepared for a tornado, or prepared for a flood or whatever your local hazards are, you’re probably going to be prepared for something else.”

Bailey said families should convene and plan out how to react to an emergency situation through developing an emergency kit, full of necessities such as water or batteries, and talking about where to meet in the event of a disaster.

“Actually talk about it and come up with a little plan, and maybe even practice it,” he said. “You’d be amazed at how much more resilient you’ll be after it happens. And it doesn’t have to be just for a terrorist attack, or just for a tornado. It could be anything that happens.”

Although 11 years have passed since a foreign attack on American soil, Bailey encouraged everyone to not forget the unexpected dangers that could rise as soon as tomorrow.

“What I’ve noticed with a lot of the current traditional college-aged students is they have an almost ‘I don’t want to face the evils of the world because it won’t happen’ mentality. And it’s not to scare them, but if you understand these things out there can happen, it makes you a little more prepared,” he said. “If I were to sit there on Sept 10, 2001, and say ‘tomorrow, this is going to happen’ ... just about anybody would said, ‘no, that would never happen.’”

He added that though many of the younger generations grew up in a post-9/11 world, many don’t understand foreign dangers or the patriotism that came upon the nation 11 years ago, albeit exhausted today.

“A lot of the younger generations now, especially the college kids, it’s hard to fathom the evils that are out there if you’ve never been exposed to those evils,” he said. “When you look at the nontraditional student — the ones who were adults when 9/11 happened — they experienced a re-emergence of patriotism that the 8- to 11-year-old didn’t.”

“I don’t think we really lost our patriotism. But it’s kind of like getting to the 15th round of a fight — you’re either going to knock your opponent out or the fight’s eventually going to have to end, and I think that’s what we’ve started to see.”

Bailey, who has taught at Tech for three years after leaving the U.S. Army, where he served in the infantry, said that many saw the killing of Osama bin Laden as the end of the fight in the two wars, and that as a former soldier, that’s the exact shift he’s seen in many mindsets regarding the war on terror that started over a decade ago.

As far as safety, Bailey praised national mitigation efforts that increased airport security, but said there are still some areas that could use more attention, such as port security.

But the threat of a terroristic attack that became all too real 11 years ago, combined with a laundry list of other eye-opening dangers the country’s bore witness to, such as mass or school shootings, or natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, have better prepared the country and its citizens to withstand more dangers that may come their way, Bailey said.

“Are we safer? Yeah, in some regards I think we are, just because we’re better prepared,” he said. “Does that mean another attack won’t happen? No, but I think we’re better prepared to handle the next one if it does occur.”